08 PASEO MIRAMAR/EAGLE ROCK/TEMESCAL RIDGE/TRAILER CANYON LOOP
KEY AT-A-GLANCE INFORMATION
Length: 17.3 miles
Configuration: Loop
Aerobic difficulty: 5
Technical difficulty: 2
Scenery: Santa Monica Bay, Topanga Canyon, Santa Ynez Canyon
Exposure: 90% exposed to sunshine
Trail traffic: Busy
Trail surface: Hard-packed fire roads and pavement—0% singletrack
Riding time: 2.5–3.5 hours
Access: Sunrise–sunset, 7 days a week
Maps: USGS 7.5-minute quad: Topanga
Special comments: Excessive sun exposure and exhaustion can be a factor here, so bring plenty of H2O and sunblock.
GPS TRAILHEAD COORDINATES (WGS84)
UTM Zone 11S
Easting 356279
Northing 3768890
Latitude N 34.03′03″
Longitude W 118.33′26″
DIRECTIONS
To start this ride, park anywhere along Palisades Drive, in Pacific Palisades. To get there, drive north on Pacific Coast Highway from the Maclure Tunnel about 4.1 miles to Sunset Boulevard. Drive up Sunset about a half mile, and then turn left on Palisades Drive.
In Brief
The Paseo Miramar/Parker Mesa/Eagle Rock/Trailer Canyon Loop isn’t very technical, but it provides approximately 4,350 feet of total climbing, making it the ideal nearby calorie burner for residents or visitors to West Los Angeles. Since the toughest climbing is just a hop, skip, and jump away from that giant AC unit called the Pacific Ocean, it’s tough to overheat on this ride, even on the hottest days of summer.
Description
Compared with the other rides in this book, this one includes a substantial amount of pavement riding—about 38 percent of the total mileage—but the pavement sees light traffic, so you won’t be inhaling too much carbon monoxide. Plus, the longest stretch off pavement comes at the end of the ride as you descend the lovely Santa Ynez Canyon via Palisades Drive, making it a scenic experience rather than a tour through urban wasteland.
To minimize time spent in Babylon, this route is designed to keep you rolling downhill on the tarmac, which is why you will be parking at the bottom of Palisades Drive. From there, gear up and ride downhill toward the beach on Sunset Boulevard, keeping an eye out for Paseo Miramar, which will appear on your right roughly 0.14 miles down Sunset. Then let the games begin! The first mile of the pavement is a grueling tour through a plethora of fancy SoCal real estate. The fragrance emanating from the meticulously maintained gardens will kill the nauseating bouquet from the exhaust system of the occasional gas-guzzling luxury SUV that passes you on the way up.
You should be thoroughly drenched in sweat and ready to rock when you reach the entrance to the unpaved portion Paseo Miramar. Don’t rush it—you’ve got more than 800 feet of elevation to gain in the next 2 miles, so favor the bigger cogs on your cassette and possibly the granny gear of your crankset, and pace yourself. At about 4 miles from your car, hang a left at the first junction that comes into view—a short spur to the Parker Mesa Overlook, which is signposted. An absence of the marine fog that the locals call “May gray” or “June gloom” (although it can blanket the ocean any month of the year) will reveal the expanse of Santa Monica Bay, Palos Verdes, Santa Catalina Island, and possibly the distant hump of land called Santa Barbara Island. A recently installed picnic bench is the prime perch for admiring this vista, and a great place to replenish your essential fuels.
After your break, retrace your steps along the spur and turn left where Paseo Miramar ends and the Santa Ynez Fire Road originates. The next 2.5 miles is a nice up-and-down sprintable section, with two items of great scenic interest—the lower, unpopulated reaches of Topanga Canyon on your left, which served as an illegitimate camping area for wandering hippies in the 1960s, and Santa Ynez Canyon on your right. (An interesting footnote: somewhere amid the towering sycamores and oaks down to your left lies the infamous “Twin Poles” hippie settlement of Topanga Canyon—the stomping grounds of Charles Manson before he gained national notoriety.) Interestingly, the populace that settled the areas to your left also stood on the left side of the political spectrum, as did the very un-Bohemian suburbanites to your right, in the Pacific Palisades.
Your traverse along the center line of this area’s landscape reaches a well-marked junction, which can take you to one of the bases of the park-ranger bureaucracy called Trippet Ranch, which includes a small museum exhibit and murals with historical info and factoids about the natural wonders of the area, as well as barbecues, park facilities, and a small pond. On this journey, you’ll avoid that off-ramp and continue up the hill toward Eagle Rock. The ascent to Eagle Rock is less excruciating than the climb up Paseo Miramar, but 550 feet of gain over 1.7 miles is no picnic, so pace yourself here as well.
At 1.3 miles from the Santa Ynez–Trippet Ranch junction, avoid navigational mishap by turning left on the only fork that appears in this area so you can spin your way up the most technical and steep part of the ride toward Eagle Rock. This gigantic hunk of Swiss cheese is the premier natural wonder of the Santa Monica Mountains. The climb will display this great rock and then take you around the backside of it, but don’t worry—at 1.7 miles from the Trippet Ranch turnoff (roughly 9 miles from your car), a trail will appear on your right that will allow you to dismount, hike to the top of the rock, and explore its caves and other surface subtleties as well as peer down at the picturesque Santa Ynez Canyon below. This site gains its namesake probably because it served as a great perch for the native predator called the red-tailed hawk before Homo sapiens took over.
After some transcendental meditation atop Eagle Rock, return to your steel, alloy, or carbon steed and continue up the fire road to Hub junction. At this intersection of three fire roads, you will be trampling the same dirt that legends such as Tinker Juarez, Victor Vincente, and Brian Skinner—key figures in the genesis of mountain biking—have ridden. “The Hub” also served as the midpoint of the sport’s earliest competitive event: the “Reseda to the Sea” race, organized by Vincente, who rode it on his very own 20-inch-wheeled custom bike, the “Topanga,” one of the first mountain bikes ever manufactured.
Leave this piece of mountain bike history and ride south along Temescal Ridge about 3 miles, and then turn right to descend the Trailer Canyon Fire Road, which drops down into Santa Ynez Canyon. The corners on this road will test your drifting skills, but watch out for the numerous apple-sized rocks that can easily make things interesting. The dirt ends about 14.3 miles from your start, dumping you into the suburban splendor of the Palisades Highlands. To get back to your car, just go downhill, making a right turn on Michael Lane and then a quick left at the end, followed by a right on Palisades Drive. Tuck down low to decrease your drag coefficient, and you’ll be back at your car in no time, forgetting that you committed the cardinal sin of riding on pavement for more than a mile.
After the Ride
For an excellent slice of pizza, plus salads and fountain drinks, go to Rocco’s Cucina at 17338 West Sunset Boulevard; (310) 573-3727. For seafood and beers on tap with ocean views, go to Gladstone’s Restaurant at 17300 Pacific Coast Highway; (310) 573-3727.